Satellite News

Raytheon has passed both a qualification and a critical design review milestone as part of its development of the U.S. Air Force’s Global Positioning System Next Generation Operational Control System, or GPS OCX.

Iridium Communications Inc. announced that its first Iridium NEXT satellites have completed assembly and testing, and are now prepared for shipment to the launch site at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

Orbital ATK, Inc. announced that the “S.S. Rick Husband” Cygnus spacecraft successfully departed from the International Space Station, completing an 81-day stay at the orbiting laboratory.

NASA has awarded The Aerospace Corporation a grant to investigate the possibility of developing an extremely thin spacecraft that would wrap around debris and remove it from Earth’s orbit.

On its fifth launch of the year, which will be the third mission in 2016 utilising an Ariane 5 launcher from the Guiana Space Center (CSG) in French Guiana, Arianespace will orbit two satellites: EchoStar XVIII for the operator DISH Network L.L.C.; and BRlsat for PT.Bank Rakyat Indonesia (Persero) Tbk.

ESA’s LISA Pathfinder mission has demonstrated the technology needed to build a space-based gravitational wave observatory.

The French Navy has awarded a four year contract covering the provision of a satellite-based maritime surveillance service to a consortium of Airbus Defence and Space and Telespazio France.

Airbus Defence and Space and the European Space Agency (ESA) have signed a contract for the early development of a system that will ensure the safe and precise landing of the Russian Luna-Resource lunar lander.